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Friday, April 20, 2007

The weather finally surrendered to spring

Each year, we become more and more fascinated with the baby animals around here. This year, the horse farm up the road had 2 colts so far, and there was on very uncomfortable mare that we haven't seen for a few days. Both of the colts are pale, although the other one is more buff colored.The willow tree in the background is so golden. They are common in the meadows here, and I love the color of the first growth each spring.There is a cattle farm that I pass each day on the way to pick up Molly from school, and the pasture is dotted with the tiny calves. I don't know why, but baby cows are so sweet looking. Give them a month and they become cows, and have lost that cuteness.Last year I remember passing by moments after one of the babies was born. I called out the window, "welcome to the world!", and spent a few minutes thinking about how it felt when my child was born. The world stopped for a second so that she could get here, and everything changed in that second. I wondered how mothers of other species feel. Laying in that pasture, the two of them looked so startled, seeing each other and wondering what had happened. It was also the first day to really get into the woods. Very wet, with water running down the path. That made Crocs iffy shoes to wear. I knew my feet would get wet, but no sense inviting the water in. Also, later when I jumped onto a dry spot in the middle of the creek, a piece of barbed wire went into the sole. I kept thinking there was a pebble in the shoe. Thank goodness I figured it out before stepping on something hard and driving it through my foot. So... to recap, Crocs aren't good in the woods.All of the Trilliums have come back and most of them have multiplied! Very exciting to me! The one here is surrounded by chickweed and dried leaves. Trillium has also been known as "bethroot" , and "birthwort", the root having been used for female complaints from adolescence through menopause. This plant is not common in our area, so I would never harvest it for medicinal use when there are other things more commonly used with good results. Black cohosh is much more common, and easy to grow.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is popping up from underground and sending out the beautiful snow-white flowers and unusually shaped bluish-green leaves.I wonder if the roots would yield a good dye. The plant itself is poisonous.

3 comments:

The wildflowers blooming in your locale are beautiful! This week-end I'm off for a mountain adventure --- hoping to find some wildflowers as well. My search will be for grass widows, yellow bells, and shooting stars. Isn't spring awesome?

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